SPIKE & MIKE'S FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION returns after a multi-year hiatus It’s been over a decade since we last presented a Spike & Mike festival of animation! Long a staple of our programming, and for years one of our most popular annual events, the Spike & Mike “classic” fest featured clever and entertaining new animated shorts from around the world, including early works by Tim Burton and Pixar animators and some Oscar winners. To mark Spike & Mike’s 30th anniversary, we present their latest “all ages” show, SPIKE AND MIKE'S 2014 FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION, which features 21 cartoons from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Spain, and the U.S. Titles include Pigeon Impossible, Oktapodi, Captain Awesome, Dumb Ways to Die, Crab Revolution, Key Lime Pie, and Ghost of Stephen Foster. Don't miss it on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday!

THIS AMERIKAN LIFE spotlights quirky short films (and filmmakers) from OhioThe Amerikans is an ongoing series of short (3-5 min.) documentaries that profile interesting, unusual, sometimes eccentric residents of northeast Ohio. Begun in 2011 and produced by Jeffrey Pence and Mika Johnson of Oberlin College, these mini-docs (all directed by Johnson) have focused, so far, on a dollhouse builder, a flamboyant funeral director, a bee sting therapist, an artist who uses his body as a paintbrush, a napkin collector, and a man in a gorilla suit, among others. On Friday night at 7 pm Pence and Johnson will present a selection of episodes from The Amerikans entitled THIS AMERIKAN LIFE and will answer audience questions after the screening. Don't miss this special event!

Sokurov's FAUST is a phantasmagoric version of the famous legendWinner of the top prize at the 2011 Venice Film Festival (where jury president Darren Aronofsky hailed it as a film that can "change you forever"), Alexander Sokurov's FAUST is an eccentric, visually stunning, phantasmagoric version of the famous legend, about a man who seeks enlightenment but sells his soul to the devil to win a beautiful young woman. This new film from the director of Russian Ark concludes Sokurov's "Men of Power" tetralogy. (Earlier films focused on Hitler, Lenin, and Hirohito.) Hanna Schygulla appears in the movie, which has cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel (Amélie, Inside Llewyn Davis). See it Saturday or Sunday. Print this email and present it at the box office and pay only $7 ($5 if you're a Cinematheque member). It's our Deal of the Week. (Limit two discount admissions per print-out) Here's the intriguing trailer.

Ridley Scott's visually stunning debut THE DUELLISTS receives rare theatrical showing Keith Carradine, Harvey Keitel, and Albert Finney star in Ridley Scott's first feature, THE DUELLISTS (1977), a visually sumptuous tale of two inimical, Napoleonic-era French cavalry officers who duel with each other repeatedly over a 15-year-period in a never-ending quest for justice and honor. Make an appointment to see this film, described by Leonard Maltin's Film Guide as "among the most staggeringly beautiful of its time," in a 35mm color print on Thursday or Saturday. Watch the trailer here.

A.K.A. DOC POMUS profiles one of the great rock 'n' roll songwriters A.K.A. DOC POMUS is an acclaimed new film that profiles one of the least known major figures in early rock ‘n’ roll. Doc Pomus (reputedly the inspiration for John Goodman’s character in Inside Llewyn Davis) was born Jerome Felder in Brooklyn and, despite being partially paralyzed from polio, became a blues singer and then a brilliant songwriter of such hits as “Save the Last Dance for Me,” “This Magic Moment,” and many more. The movie about him is enlivened by music and archival imagery. In addition, famous friends remember him and Lou Reed reads from Doc’s private journals. See it Thursday or Sunday. Here's the trailer.